The bright sunshine poured into a luxurious villa in the suburbs of Chicago, lighting up the delicate garden. Roger Ebert sat alone at a small table in the garden, enjoying his morning tea. Several servants had already retreated from the garden, as if the person sitting there was not the most famous film critic in America, but a monster waiting to devour anyone in its path.
Everyone had hidden, only the butler, Stuker, occasionally walked by the garden to check, but never entered, disturbing the master there.
Since 1995, they had become accustomed to this situation.
The man sitting in the garden, when facing the media, appeared generous and cheerful, as if he was just a refined critic. But Stuker, who had served him for many years, knew very well that this film critic's heart was barely larger than a needle's eye.
When did this situation start to evolve? Stuker thought for a long time before finally remembering—Duke Rosenberg's Independence Day!
He still remembered, back then, Roger had launched the most vicious attack, and the target of that attack went on to achieve its greatest box office success up to that point.
From then on, a deep enmity had formed between the two, and for most of the time, Roger's fierce criticisms were powerless against that director's summer blockbuster films. No matter how harsh his attacks were, the audience still bought tickets, basically ignoring his reviews.
This also made Stuker realize that the influence of the person he served was not as terrifying as imagined.
Once, it was an exception. Saving Private Ryan became a hot contender for the Best Director Oscar due to Mel Gibson's scandal, and Duke Rosenberg's chance seemed certain. But in the end, Tim Robbins shocked everyone by winning, and Roger was likely behind a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
It seemed this was Roger's only victory.
In recent years, Duke Rosenberg had almost released a film every year. Roger, without exception, gave them bad reviews and low scores, but the audience ignored his critiques and flocked to the theaters, leading to a continuous series of successes for Duke Rosenberg.
Roger, with his narrow-mindedness, was already quite arrogant. He always liked to collect various data on Duke Rosenberg's films as soon as they were released. The kind of reactions those eye-popping statistics would provoke in him could be easily imagined.
Gradually, the servants figured out the pattern. To avoid becoming punching bags, they simply stayed as far away as possible during that particular period of time.
"Why bother? Why indeed?"
Thinking of this, Stuker couldn't help but shake his head. Even he could see clearly that film critics were already in decline, especially in terms of influence during the summer blockbusters, where their impact had reached its lowest point ever.
Could a film critic, focused on the arts, compete with a director, focused on commercial films, in the summer blockbusters? Was there even a chance? Why bother?
If it were another director, maybe, after being relentlessly attacked by Roger and fellow critics, they might have been finished. But Duke Rosenberg's strength was not something that critics could shake.
After serving Roger Ebert for so many years, Stuker understood some things very clearly. The power of public opinion was indeed in the hands of a few, but it was never in the hands of film critics. Even if Roger managed to unite all the critics in North America, what difference would it make?
There were no more than 400 of them, and in reality, they had no influence over the major media conglomerates. How could they possibly challenge a director with tens of millions of fans across the country, who was also a major shareholder of Warner Brothers?
Stuker had advised him before, but sadly, ever since Roger won the Pulitzer Prize, he had stopped listening to any opposing views.
But was it all worth it?
Last year, Roger Ebert had just undergone thyroid cancer surgery. Stuker suspected this was related to the time every year when his anger simmered inside him without an outlet.
Each set of statistics on Duke Rosenberg's films that was sent to Roger felt like a death sentence from Satan.
Some things Stuker could advise once or twice, but he couldn't continue urging forever. After all, he was just a butler.
After another glance at Roger Ebert in the garden, Stuker shook his head and decided to leave for now.
On the small dining table in the garden, breakfast and tea sat quietly, untouched. A copy of yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times and today's statistics report were placed in front of Roger Ebert.
The page of the Chicago Sun-Times was open to his column from yesterday, which mainly criticized The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
"The film certainly shows us some beautiful scenery, but it cannot hide the lengthy and boring plot. You could sit in the theater for an hour and feel drowsy. This adaptation falls far short of expectations, and the protests from book fans are not without reason…"
Seeing his own review, and then glancing at the 6.2 score, Roger Ebert felt this was nothing but mockery aimed at him!
He had just criticized The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in his column, and without Duke Rosenberg even having to intervene, the fresh statistics from the production team today slapped him hard in the face.
"94% positive audience reviews on opening day, overall rating A+!"
Perhaps, to the proud critics, this didn't mean much. In their conventional views, the masses were inherently vulgar, but for a commercial film, the data that he outwardly despised but secretly longed to influence was dazzling and glaring!
"27.11 million dollars!"
This was the opening day box office for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring!
Seeing this number, even Roger Ebert, no matter how arrogant, knew that his so-called status as North America's most authoritative film critic had virtually no influence on regular moviegoers anymore.
Apart from stirring things up during the award season for the academy-style awards, what could they do in the summer blockbusters?
Roger Ebert suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and immediately remembered his health condition. He quickly adjusted his breathing to calm himself. Even though it was cancer, he didn't want to die. At least, not before Duke Rosenberg was finished!
The decline of film critics today was due entirely to him!
It was this young, rule-breaking director who had stepped on critics' cake, showing Hollywood that critics were actually weak.
Since their interests had been affected, they would have to pay the price. He couldn't fall before they did!
His breathing gradually settled, and Roger Ebert's eyes grew brighter. Perhaps he couldn't strike at Duke in the summer blockbusters or commercially, but as long as he was alive, that guy would never get his hands on the Best Director Oscar!
He swore!
No matter how much Roger Ebert swore, it couldn't stop Duke from firmly moving forward toward greater success.
The director's success comes from the accumulation of one successful work after another.
What was needed now was undoubtedly The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
On Sunday afternoon, Duke led the entire fellowship cast to Santa Monica Commercial Square, kicking off the promotional tour across North America. Characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Legolas, and Elrond also made appearances.
Especially when Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, appeared before the fans, the girls who had already seen the film almost went wild and rushed towards him. When security finally rescued Bloom from a mob of fanatical girls, his hair had turned into a bird's nest, his casual jacket was torn in several places, and the zipper of his jeans was completely broken…
"Orlando, you're a big star now."
Hiding in the lounge of the Santa Monica Commercial Square, Billy Boyd was still cracking jokes. "Look at those girls. If you want to find a girlfriend, I think everyone would rush at you."
"Don't talk about me, you're a star now too." Orlando Bloom shot back, "If you stand outside and wave your hand, I bet a whole bunch of girl fans would be willing to hang out with you tonight."
"Do you think so, Duke?" He turned to ask Duke.
Duke nodded and said to everyone, "Guys, enjoy this journey."
"Yeah, it's a dream journey!" Elijah Wood, the youngest among them, had the most to say, "When I fired Martin Bob and insisted on auditioning, it was the right decision! I got my first and second single-day box office champion."
It wasn't a secret that Elijah Wood had fired his agent to audition for Frodo, and hearing him say this made everyone laugh.
"I'm not joking, I'm being serious!" Elijah Wood stood up from his chair and said earnestly, "On Friday, our single-day box office was 27.11 million dollars! And yesterday, Saturday…"
Gerard Butler, who usually didn't joke around, took over, "32.24 million dollars!"
Elijah Wood looked around the lounge at everyone, "Do you know what this means? For me, it's my second single-day box office champion, but for everyone else?"
Everyone knew what this meant!
Ian McKellen, the oldest in the lounge, voiced the answer, "We! All of us! Together, we created the highest single-day box office in North American film history since the birth of cinema! We created a brand-new record!"
"Yes, we are the record-makers!"
Except for Duke, who was always smiling, the rest erupted into cheers.
This was a number worth commemorating, and a record that would be remembered. Those of them who made this record would be written into the history of North American and even world cinema!
They truly had the right to be proud and excited!
The North American promotional tour of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring started from Santa Monica Commercial Square. Duke would lead the entire cast from west to east, pushing through major cities across the U.S., aiming to gather the highest box office numbers possible.